Heffner hoists Hagerstown hardware

By Jim Haines  HAGERSTOWN, Md. (May 22) – Dave Grube topped the 25-car field Saturday night in a Hagerstown Speedway event co-sanctioned by the Virginia Sprint Series and Laurel Highland Sprint Series. Donny Hendershot and Alex Schmiedel paced the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car field to green and Hendershot out first but nobody was getting away. While leading on lap three, Hendershot slowed to a stop and Grube took over on the restart, bringing Brad Mellott with him.  The laps went by quickly on the wide smooth oval as Grube and Mellott entered lapped traffic with Jerald Harris and Dylan Shatzer closing in. Shatzer got by Harris for third and was working on Mellott, allowing Grube to start inching away as the two raced for second. Shatzer got second and was making up ground as his line on the bottom was working better. Time ran out, however, as Grube flashed under the waving checkered flag for his second win of the year, the first coming on May 1 with the Pennsylvania Sprint Series. Shatzer, Mellott, Jeff [Read More]

By Frank Buhrman YORK HAVEN, Pa. (Aug. 29) – George Riden had been trying to get his IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car out to the track more often. It paid off Sunday night, when the Elizabethtown veteran won his first Pennsylvania Sprint Series race in nine years, taking the 20-lap feature at BAPS Motor Speedway. Riden drew the outside pole and took the lead from polesitter Drew Young on lap three. He then fought off a ferocious challenge from Dom Melair, whose efforts to go past the leader fell just short. “Work has gotten pretty busy,” Riden said in victory lane. “Racing had to be put on the backburner but these guys over here have been working their butts off and we finally found some speed. It’s been a long time, man, so I’m just happy, just happy.” The win was Riden’s seventh with PASS but his first since Sept. 29, 2112. All six previous wins were at Path Valley Speedway. The veteran racer was a PASS regular from 2005-13 but has run sporadically since then [Read More]

By Frank Buhrman and Stephanie Dodson  SELINSGROVE, Pa. (May 22) – If the story of 2020 in the Pennsylvania Sprint Series was the dominance of Garrett Bard, the story in early 2021 has been the lack of that dominance. But Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway, the current story line may have changed. Bard, who won IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car national and PASS championships last year, grabbed the lead from Kenny Heffner on the feature’s final restart and collected his first PASS win of 2021 (he has won in other RaceSaver series). Heffner, looking for his first career PASS win, led most of the race for the second time this season and settled for a career-best second place finish. He battled Bard for nearly a full circuit after the lap 18 restart and was still fighting for the lead at the checkered flag. Hometown favorite Ken Duke, the 2019 national and PASS champion, charged from 10th starting to finish third, followed by Austin Reed and George Riden.  Heffner took the early lead after he and polesitter [Read More]